HKC PRESERVATION BOARD MEMBERS

Kansas City boasts some of the country’s most amazing architectural structures. Yet each year, 300 buildings are torn down. History crumbles as each brick falls. With the support of Preservationists across Kansas City, we can work together to protect our city’s built heritage and stop the ongoing demolition of historic resources in our community.

President – Vicki Noteis

Vicki is an architect, urban planner, and president of Collins Noteis & Associates.  She has served on the Kansas City, Missouri City Plan Commission, the Missouri State Board for Architects, Engineers, Land Surveyors and Landscape Architects, as President of AIA Kansas City and was named an Alumni Fellow of the Kansas State University College of Architecture and Design in 1999.  Prior to forming CNA, Vicki was Director of the City Planning & Development Department for Kansas City for 7 years.  Prior to that, she served as Assistant Director where she led the city’s development of a new comprehensive & strategic masterplan, FOCUS Kansas City, which received the American Planning Association’s National Award for Excellence.

Vice President – Mary Jo Draper

Mary Jo Draper is an author and the editor of the online news site the Midtown KC Post,  which explores the history of Midtown Kansas City. She lives in the Valentine neighborhood and has been active for several decades in neighborhood issues and activities. Draper worked for 15 years as a reporter and news director of KCUR radio, Kansas City’s public radio station. In 1999, She founded Draper Communications, which helps nonprofits organizations, government entities and neighborhoods with public involvement and other communications services. She is the author of Kansas City’s Historic Midtown Neighborhoods and is on work on a book about the Valentine area.

Treasurer – Rick McDermott

Rick is founder emeritus of RDM Architecture, founded in 1979 and based in Kansas City, Missouri. He was also a partner in a landscape design build company, Everything Grows. Renovation and reuse of existing space and sustainable design principals guided his professional philosophy. He received a Bachelor of Architecture from Kansas State University, College of Architecture and Design. He was a passionate member of the Kansas City chapter of the American Institute of Architects including having served as treasurer and President. He served seven years on the Kansas City Architectural Foundation Board including two as President.

Secretary – Jeff Zumsteg

Jeff is a long-time supporter of the University of Missouri Alumni Association, Past President – Kansas City Chapter Mizzou Alumni Association, Co-Chair – Kansas City Tiger Ball, Tiger Pride Award Recipient, Marching Mizzou Alumni Band Hall of Fame Inductee, and Friends of Music Foundation. He has also been an active participant with the Missouri Preservation Society and the Scarritt Renaissance Neighborhood Association.

Past President – Greg Allen

Greg Allen is known to friends (and foes) as a sometimes civic enthusiast (sometimes contrarian) and a perennial volunteer in preservation and city planning. His more recent efforts in preservation have focused on Historic Kansas City, where he is a past president and devoted advocate for Kansas City’s scenic and historic assets, leaving him time as well to dally with young grandkids and steward the Allens’ longtime home in the Roanoke Historic District. Greg has chaired the KC Landmarks Commission, the Union Station Preservation Advisory Committee, the Missouri Advisory Council for Historic Preservation, and has served on the Board of Advisors of the National Trust.  Greg is the President of Allen Financial Corp.

Christy Cubbage

Christy Cubbage, is a Certified Public Accountant with over 27 years of accounting experience.  She has spent the last 5.5 years at Support Kansas City as a Director of Client accounting providing accounting back office services to over 130 501c3 organizations.  Her interests include historic places (specifically houses), interior design, gardening and architecture.  She grew up on a farm outside of Nevada Missouri and graduated from Southwest Missouri State University.  She also has an Executive MBA from UMKC.

Alexander East

Alexander East serves as the Assistant Principal Cello of the Kansas City Symphony. East received his training at Indiana University where he received a bachelor’s degree and performer diploma, and he earned his master’s degree at the New England Conservatory of Music.  Alex served as a key representative for the Union Hill Neighborhood working with HKC to save the corner of 31st and Main from demolition.

 

Chris Jordan

Chris lives in the Valentine neighborhood and has been active for several decades in neighborhood issues and activities. Chris currently serves on the Valentine Neighborhood Association and Broadway Westport Council. Her many activities have also included the Midtown Housing Advisory Board, Midtown Plaza Area Plan Steering Committee, and Westport Plan Steering Committee.

Amelia McIntyre

Amelia McIntyre is an attorney with forty-one years of experience in real estate law. During the last eleven years, she has served as an attorney for the City of Kansas City, Missouri on a variety of matters, furthering preservation through revitalization of the City’s historic neighborhoods. Amelia’s real estate expertise contributed to the success of a number of complex transactions for City, including the transfer of the former Kemper Arena, saving it from demolition, while enabling a developer to create the Hy-Vee Arena, as a sports venue for the region, and the transfer and redevelopment of historic structures in the 18th and Vine District known as the former Crispus Attucks School and 2000 Vine.

Bryan William Painter

Bryan is a writer, craftsman, husband, father, and avid outdoorsman with a passion for historical architecture. He studied Political Science and History at Southern Arkansas University and has held several executive positions with companies that specialized in various construction trades. Over the past two decades, he has actively participated as a designer, consultant, and specialty contractor for historical restoration of several iconic buildings in the Kansas City Metro. Hailing from a lineage of creative makers with a strong commitment to the principle of building or repairing rather than buying or replacing, Bryan has cultivated a foundation of ingenuity, perseverance, and entrepreneurial spirit into multiple successful enterprises. He is the founder and CEO of RETROPROS, Plaster Dynamics, and JUBEO Design, all of which are intricately connected to the fundamental concept of sustainability through restoration, utilization, and preservation of existing structures, composites, and built environments.

Maddie Sanders (Konnesky)

Maddie Sanders is an associate assisting clients within the firm’s Litigation & Dispute Resolution practice group. Maddie focuses her practice on business litigation, serving clients in a variety of areas including complex commercial litigation, real estate litigation, insurance coverage disputes, class actions and appellate work. Maddie joined the firm after working as a summer associate in 2021, where she drafted memorandums and pleadings, conducted research, and assisted attorneys on a wide array of litigation matters. Maddie is also active in the firm’s pro bono efforts and volunteers through Jackson County CASA to serve as a guardian ad litem for children who are in the Jackson County Family Court system due to abuse or neglect. University of Alabama School of Law, J.D., magna cum laude, 2022

Katheryn Shields

After serving two separate stints on the Kansas City Council, bookending her 12 years as Jackson County executive, Katheryn Shields knows her way around local government. During two terms on the city council in the late 80s and 90s, Katheryn first demonstrated her support for preservation when she negotiated the creation of a $1M fund, resulting from the loss of General Hospital, to be used for historic preservation projects in the city. Subsequently, as Jackson County Executive, she worked to preserve the historic courthouses in downtown Kansas City and in Independence. Having just completed two additional terms on the city council in 2023, she has made multiple contributions to the city’s historic heritage. Upon taking office in 2015, Katheryn opposed the demolition of 4 large historic apartment buildings on Armour Blvd. and developed a plan to entice the developer to undertake a complete renovation of these buildings. Katheryn was a critical player in the effort by preservationists to retain 5 historic buildings surrounding the Nelson Atkins Museum, originally slated for demolition. Following a two year process involving HKC and dozens of property owners, the Council voted unanimously for the Plaza Bowl overlay district championed by Councilwoman Shields. The overlay district is a major “win” for preservation in Kansas City.

 

Marquita Brockman-Taylor

Marquita Taylor, MBA is the CEO of MB Taylor Consulting, LLC providing consulting services in the field of fund development and racial equity training. Marquita also provides facilitation services for CJ-CSCP, Inc., a racial equity training company. Marquita is also co-developer with Pitch-Perfect KC, a partnership created to restore the family home of Leroy “Satchel” Paige. Marquita has more than 20 years of experience in fund development, community relations, marketing, and special events for several non-profit organizations in the community as well as experience from a managerial level for banking and finance in the corporate sector. Her unique blend of strategic business acumen skills in banking and finance as well as in healthcare, social justice, and education in nonprofit management, gives Marquita the ability to serve as a servant leader in both arenas. Marquita serves as president of the Santa Fe Area Neighborhood Council as well as many others. Marquita received her bachelor’s in management from the University of Phoenix Kansas City and a master’s in business administration.

Jim Wanser

Former President of HKC – Jim Wanser, Ed.S. is an educational administrator at UMKC and has a practice in career development and executive selection.  He has a  long history of midtown neighborhood leadership and serves on a variety of community boards. His primary interest is neighborhood preservation and he has worked with the City of Kansas City on several planning efforts.

Garrett Wilson

Garrett Wilson, owner of GKW Restoration Group, is an experienced business owner with a demonstrated history of working in the construction and historic restoration industry. Strong education background with multiple degrees in Economics and Business from Missouri Western State University. He is a masonry restoration contractor working with project teams to restore and preserve historic masonry structures.